We are compelled to do what we have been forbidden.

Time passes...
Even when it seems impossible.
Even when each tick of the second hand aches like the pulse of blood behind a bruise.
It passes unevenly, in strange lurches and dragging lulls, but pass it does...
Even for me.

Hey all. Just wanted to let you know that I'm going to start blogging again... I'm currently updating everything that I haven't been able to get to while my parents had that parental control on.

Canada was fun.
Lift was interesting.
My cousins came here from Chicago for a week.
My Aunt was married.
I'm 16!
I have my permit!
I'm a Sophomore now. (10th grade)
School started Thursday. I have decent classes.
My sister is a freshman. It's weird seeing her in the school.
I'm over at Caroline's right now.
I'm extremely tired.
Cardboard Testimonies this weekend! Incredibly scary to get up on stage and do them.
YouTube 'Cardboard Testimonies' if you don't know what I'm talking about.
I'm getting a kitten tomorrow!

I hope you're caught up! Get off my back about blogging now, kay? =]

Playing my little part in something big.

I'm leaving tomorrow (that's if I finish packing) at the crack of dawn (7:45 baby ;) with the middle schoolers from my church. We're going to PA, and I'm not ecstatic about the cramped school bus ride there but once we get there and get situated I'll be ohkay. Supposedly there are about 60 kids...

I'm really looking forward to going. It's where everything started for me, two years ago almost to the day. Weird.

I'll be back on Friday...

Then off to Canadia!!

Fun!

I had the best weekend.

• Friday I went to Borders & Fridays with my mom. I finally bought some much needed books, and a few other things. It was nice.
  


• Saturday I finally mailed my passport. Note the finally part. I should get it in 2-3 weeks... Hopefully more around the 2 week point. (crossing fingers.) I'm happy though, that I sent it. I've been so stressed, and you know what happens when I do? I get zits and other unholy bumps on my face. Unfair!
  The rest of my day was spent with friends at the Great Escape for Glory day. I had so much fun.
  I Tanned. Got soaked in the lazy river. Competed who could keep their hands up in the air the longest on the Pirate Ship. Glasses breaking in the line for the Pirate Ship... Wedgies!!! =P Walmart for super glue and deodorant. Subway. Competed who could keep their hands up in the air the longest on the Comet. A lot of walking and pictures. Finally the Sky Coaster! Had to practically beg Carolines mom, but it was so worth it!
  When we left, we sang to a bunch of songs and stopped by A&W. Best root beer ever!
  


• Sunday was the Malta Celebration. The very last service in the Shops of Malta! (And my first Sunday service in over a year and a half!) Its sad to think about. I've spent the past 4 years there, and I have so memories. It was fun to reminisce with Caroline and Katie.
  After the service, the church held a huge picnic out on the new property. It didn't rain at ALL! How awesome is that? It was fun to hang out with everyone and watch the baptisms.
  

Today isn't going to be eventfull. Hopefully I can get my glasses properly fixed, so it doesn't look like I'm lopsided.
I have a few pictures on my Flickr. Check them out. =]

I Like Food.

The 30 Hour Famine was awesome! I had a great time. Except for the whole being hungry part. Living for Later played, and we mostly just hung out Friday. The majority stayed up till about 2:20-4:00 supposedly but I think that's wrong. Nobody really knows. We played catchphrase and we were hanging out in the sanctuary talking, while all of the adults except Mr. Straight went to bed at around 10.

Saturday we woke up at 8:30. That sucked. A hand full of us signed up to go to the City Mission to help. We had three options to choose from. It was either City Mission, Samuel's to paint, or staying at the church to clean. When we got there, it was incredibly hot and humid. We had to sign a waver, I think. I don't know why. Then we split up into two groups, and the group I was in had to do yard work and mulch. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be... I had pictured myself knee deep in mulch with flip flops on. I got some sun too. =] It was difficult to walk through their kitchen though. So much *good smelling* food!!!!!

After working for 3 and a half hours, we headed back to the church, only to head back out again. Only this time, it was to the mall for a scavenger hunt. We got into groups of 5, and we had to do the most ridiculous things ever. It was awesome. We got yelled at in Boscov's for going up and down the escalators (or...running up the down...and running down the up) too many times. Apparently they called the very scary mall cops, but I didn't see any.

We finally broke the fast after the 5:00 service ended. It was the best tasting food ever. I love pasta. I have pictures of the weekend on my flickr, so check them out. =]


{Wednesday classes end.
Thursday finals start. End on next Monday.
Next Tuesday & Friday are Regents.}
Summer!!!! (&& Glory Day ;)

Be Hungry.

Tonight, (or should I say today?) is the start of the 30 hour famine. Basically it's an international event where various church youth groups fast for 30 straight hours to raise money for the thousands of kids who go hungry everyday. I know the church has done this before maybe 3 years ago, but I didn't for whatever reason.

I haven't eaten anything since lunch ended at 11:20 and it is now 4:45, and I'm pretty hungry. I'm actually fasting just a tad longer than 30 hours, because of my lunch schedule. It's incredibly early than other peoples. What sucked was when I got home, my mom made my sister and I some food, and I was like, Yay!...crap. Hopefully this will get easier with people fasting with me. =P

I'm going to try and blog through it, but I'm not entirely sure how well it's going to work out. I know we're going to Samuels in the morning tomorrow, then going to a soup kitchen later. We're breaking the fast after the first service on Saturday, which ends at 6 I believe... Oh. I should probably go pack.

Less than 26 hours to go!

Re-decor.

That would be the Clifton Park campus sanctuary... With some redecorating going on for the big move with Malta. The ceiling is being spray painted with some special chemical in it. I found a whole bunch of it on the production booth Sunday morning. It's black (obviously) and it feels like really fine dirt or sand. The nastiest stuff to get on your skin and/or clothes...

Speaking of redecorating, I went shopping with a friend of mine the other day, and I finally bought a cover for my iPod! About time, I know. Most of them were really ugly... It took me forever to find one I really liked. I also bought The Host by Stephenie Meyers. I finished it. It's a pretty good book. I didn't think it was nearly as good as her Twilight series though. (Next book coming out August 2nd!! Two days before my birthday!) I have to reread it though. There are so many details in that book, my head was hurting.

I have my Global (Social Studies) final tomorrow. DBQs are always fun... I can't wait until school is over!! =] Three weeks left of classes. Four weeks if you count finals and regents. I'm scared that I won't pass the regents. That I'll have to repeat the class and/or go to summer school. Scary! I want summer.

Tonight is Part One of the finale for American Idol!!!!!! We all know who I'm rooting for. By the way, I heard that one of the judges, Paula Abdul is singing tonight. Does anyone even listen to (or like) her anymore...?

If you never try, You'll never know.

As most of you know, I serve a fair amount. I serve on a weekly basis for my church. The occasional Saturday then every Sunday for services in the morning and for my youth group in the afternoon. I've helped out with Nine12/United serves, whenever that's scheduled, I'll do it. But not only that, I really love to serve. Production never gets boring for me, and I just like to help out where ever I'm needed.
That's why I was really bummed when I found out that my church isn't going on a mission trip this year. I was told that we might go somewhere in the Adirondacks, to help clean around the area or whatever, but I guess that never worked out. But now I really really want to go.
I've had this burning feeling in my heart, and I'm pretty sure it's not by coincidence. Yesterday I spend the majority of the day looking at oppurtunities to go on mission trips, and all of them are either past the deadline for entries, or they conflict with my other plans over the summer.

Except one. I don't want to go into too much detail, especially since I haven't even talked to my parents about it, and I shouldn't get my hopes too high... But I'm crazy excited!!!!!

Keep ya posted. =]

Oh, By The Way, You're Under Arrest.

The past few days have not been too terribly eventful... The most interesting thing is that I video directed in Malta this evening, which I haven't done in a year. It was intimidating at first, but it all came back pretty quickly. =]

Earlier I found this though. I thought it was pretty entertaining.

Tomorrow I'm going to see Prom Night. I'm the biggest pansy when it comes to scary movies. I bet I'll have nightmares for the next week... But for now, I'm going to snuggle in my blankets, get some ice cream, and watch Cops with the fam.

That's What HE Said.

This past Sunday I...

• Was smacked in the face while Dave and Will Bush decided to do chest bumps in order to get pumped up for the services. I somehow knew that that was going to happen. I was trying to get out of their way with Sue, to let the boys do their testosterone thing. Obviously that didn't work. I sucked it up until I started crying in the bathroom with a friend of mine that saw me in the hallway on the verge of tears. My nose didn't bleed, but it felt like it would. It still hurts.
  
  
• Watched one of my camera people pass out. Second scariest thing that I've ever witnessed. (First was Jon putting his arm through a window.) I was actually watching him about five seconds before, wondering why he wasn't fixing his head room... I, naturally, started crying while no one else was. I think every single one of my emotions are hardwired into my tear ducts. Then I look like Rudolph, because my nose gets all red. Very attractive.
  
  
• Went to Saratoga with several friends after church. We pretty much just walked around and did nothing except... Well, walk. We went to Starbucks (Mocha Frappuccino <3), probably walked the main strip three times, went around and through Congress Park, hit Wendys twice, went to CVS and Friendly's in an emergency, Ben & Jerry's was nice and cool inside while Caroline and I bought Alicia ice cream for her birthday, and we sat on the ledge of a two story parking garage... It was awesome!
  
  
• Served for VIP Night at the Malta campus. We got there at five, and ate a lot of food. Actually, I did. But it was all out there in the open and waiting to be eaten. I ate a lot of healthy foods, and mingled with some adults that I knew. It's sad how I barely know anyone now. I still know a bunch of people, but there are so many more volunteers now. =P I ran graphics for worship, then I helped at Kidzway with pretty much everyone that went to Saratoga plus James and lil Jon. I had a blast, and the little kids are so cute!!
  
  

Today was not that good of a day. Brinking on absolutely horrible. I'm going to go and get some sleep...

Just Another Day.

Today I did a whole bunch of cleaning for my mom. It was beautiful out, so all of the windows were open. I love it when it's nice out, it makes my day five times better. After that I went tanning for a little while outside. (I don't think I'm ever going to go tanning in a booth.) Then I slept for a good 3 hours. I'm going to miss my afternoon naps when I go back to school, to be completely honest. They are very nice to say the least. At around 6:45 my mom and I left to go to Wilton to go shopping. What is normally a 25 minute drive became practically a 45 minute drive because she missed the exit we were supposed to get off at. She was in the middle of a story, and she never pays attention to where she's going when she's talking. Unfortunetly, it felt like 20 minutes to the next exit and back. It was funny for me, but my mom was really pissed. Shopping was fun though, so it was okay. ;]

Tomorrow I'm going to church at 8 a.m. (ridiculous), then after I'm getting a ride to Saratoga to hangout with a group of friends for the rest of the day. VIP Night is at 6, so I will be going to that as well. I doubt I'll be able to blog tomorrow, so that's roughly my day.

School on Monday... Not quite looking forward to that...

Interview

I just got back from an interview from the job that I blogged about before. It went pretty well, I think. She's going to give me call... I'm excited! I hope I get it.

Tomorrow is church, then probably goin to Jon and Nic's for a little bit, if Nic doesn't go into labor by then. After that, I have to write an outline for English... Fun...

A Twist In My Story

I think 3rd quarter is the worst out of the 4. I have a DBQ (Document-Based Questions for you Canadians that don't know) for Global about the Islamic Empire, Byzantine Empire and the Tang & Song Chinese Dynasty Golden Ages, a research paper, and about a gazillion tests. Plus it's the teetering point that winter slowly disinegrates into the long, rainy, and drawn out process of spring. I'm all for warmer weather, but it's the whole getting there that I don't like. Today for example, it was like 5 degrees with the wind chill. Now this time next week it's going to be around 50, then it's just going to get freezing again. It's torture!

Anywho, I'm thinking about applying to Word of Life to be Staff over the summer (June 28th {or so, it's whenever I get out of school} till August 9th {I still want a birthday party while my cousins are in town!}. I went to Word of Life Ranch several years ago, and I pretty much loved it. But I don't have any idea what the age requirement is, so I'm supposed to be getting an e-mail sometime tomorrow or the next day. Like I said, I'm just thinking about it...

-Oh, If anyone doesn't know what Word of Life is, it's a Christian Bible Camp from 6 year olds to 18 year olds. The Ranch is for 1st - 6th graders. The Island is for 7th - 12th graders.

Tomorrow: CHUCK E. CHEESE with VPT! Haha, I can't wait. ;]
Saturday: Babysitting my cousins.
Sunday: UNITED!!

By the way, I'm watching American Idols elimination round and David A. is so going to win, and by far I might confidently add. He's the best out of the guys, and I have yet heard any girls that were anything special.

Update: The minimum age is 14. So I think I'm going to do it...

Stuff and Such

It's winter break and I-and the rest of NY-have a week off from school. It's extremely boring, which is why I applied for a job today... Now it's only a matter of them calling me back. I need a job for just 1 reason. I really need the money. I need a car, and everything else that comes with a car. i.e. - insurance, gas money, blahblahblah. Plus, I'm supposed to pay for half of what it costs to go to camp this year, about 300 dollars for Lift, & if I want to go anywhere else this summer, I have to pay for it too. Or at least half of it... Anyone need a babysitter?

Anyway I guess I'll recap about Sunday because I went to another youth group, which I have not done in years...
Sunday night I went with Kayla and a few of our friends went to her youth group. It wasn't their normal youth group, because they had another church with them, but still... It was like a breath of fresh air, no lie. It was more low-key, less hectic, and much smaller. After being with Northway for 3-4 years, that's the exact opposite of what I've been accustomed too. After the allowed hangout time, we watched a few homemade videos and then we were given 4 groups to choose from. Evangelism, Drama, Band, or Art. (I chose Evangelism because, unfortunetly, I hold no talent in music, acting, or anything to do with drawing. I'm not too good in the public speaking area either, but it's not as bad as the other 3.) Kayla and the rest of the crew came with me, as with 20 other people, and we met the leader of the group and his name is Chris. He's pretty awesome. Plus, he's the guy that does all the videos, so Kayla and I are going to be in the next video. ;] But it was informing and interesting to learn more about evangelism.

It was cool to see and be apart of another youth group. To be an "outsider" where no one knew me for once instead of being apart of the group and most everyone knowing me. It definitely made me think about the perspective of a newcomer to UNITED. (And I'm going with Kayla again this Sunday! =])

United Serves!

Tonight a bunch of us helped out the facilities team at the Malta campus for a few hours, and it was a lot of work... But it was so much fun. It was really nice to see -most- everyone again. Formerly known as Nine12 Serves, we basically just help out wherever we're needed.

I have pictures, so check them out!!

After we cleaned we went to taco bell and hung out there for a bit, then Alicia dropped me off at my house... By the way, she get's to go to Hawaii this week. I'm SO jealous.

Can't wait for next month! =]

Sorry it's such a short post, but I'm tired and I want to go to bed...

Fun Few Days

Yesterday was the United/Superbowl Party. I had the best time, like I do every United.
From Sarah and I screaming pointlessly at the screen when the Patriots got an interception, or when they got a touchdown, to Caroline, Sarah and I making a video while sucking helium out of balloons. Good times.

Today for gym, most of us thought we were going swimming - including me - because we were told that last class. Apparently, we heard incorrectly because we went bowling. I really hate carrying my swimming stuff to and from school. Anyway, we got to the bowling alley and then a friend of mine, Mary comes up to me and asks, "So... What are we going to do? We don't have socks."
I looked down. She was right, we both were wearing flats. I cringed at the thought of going sockless in bowling shoes. So we tried talking to our gym teacher, and the guy handing out shoes, but were shut down with two "You have to wear the shoes."
Our gym teacher told us that this girl last block came up with the idea of putting toilet paper in the bottom of the shoes...
That was exactly what we did. Mary was absolutely disgusted.
"I would rather lick a toilet seat than do this."
Haha. It was a long 60 minutes. It was bad taking off the shoes, because the toilet paper stuck to our feet...

Church Hopping

Tests are over, for me anyway, and I now have an entire week off. I'm happy, because now I can catch up on sleep again...

Okay, so there is this little prayer group called "Spartans for Christ" that meets every Monday in Mr. Mody's room. I've been apart of this group for a few months now, and I really like the people that are apart of it. It started sometime in mid-October, and once I heard about it, I started going I think after only a few weeks. It's inexpressibly nice to know that there are other Christians that have my back.
We've done a few projects within the school, but we've been limited to a few things because we need around a good solid 20 people to start coming regularly. Right now there is only about 11 or 12 or so, which is pretty decent. One of the projects we're thinking about doing is going to each others youth group, or church hopping. I really like this idea for two reasons:
1. I would love to see other youth groups. I haven't been to another in several years.
2. Northway is above and beyond traditional churches, and I love bringing people (and seeing their expressions.) No matter how much I may disagree with a few things, it's been my home for 3 and a half years.

So I can't wait till we actually carry out this little project, and I can't wait for more to come!

Mid-Terms & "Pre-Regents"

Yep. We're halfway through the year, and how do they reward us? Tests!
Figures, right?
Here's my schedule for the rest of the week:

Tuesday:
2nd Block: Huge Global Test... Besides that, a Normal Day.

Wednesday:
1st Block: English Mid-Term (Easyyy)
2nd Block: Global again (No test though)
3rd Block: Gym (Swimming for over an hour. Yeah baby.)

Thursday:
1st Block: French Mid-Term (Cake)
2nd Block: Keyboarding Mid-Term (Ridiculous, I think)
3rd Block: Science "Regents" (GAH) It's not counting as a "Regent Exam", but it's a test that my teacher made, and it's in the style like a regents exam. She calls it "Pre-Regents". Still kind of intimidating.

Friday: (Half Day)
1st Block: Math
2nd Block: Study Hall (Gay, I'm trying to switch that class for Art 2D or something. Anything could be better than wasting your time and credits in an 100 minute Study Hall)

All those classes are about 100 minutes long.
Blocks are pretty much the order my classes are in. It should be self explanatory.
My science teacher gave me this site to prep for the "regents", and I guess it's alright.
http://www.regentsprep.org/


In other news, last night was United, and it was quite fun. I had a blast. =]

Nervous!

Yeah, so this weekend has been fun!
Although I only want to blog about Sunday, because I can, and this is my blog. =P

So like I do every Sunday, I worked the two services which went fairly well. I still have issues with songs on the key, and having to come up with telling the camera people what to do in split second thoughts...So THAT didn't go too well, but the services over all did. Thankfully we only did the Happy Girl song in the 1st service, not in the second. =P After the services I went with Nic and Ben, with my mom and sister following in the other car, to IHOP, to meet up with the rest of the crew. We ate pancakes, duhhh. Although some losers didn't...heh. When most of us were done and stuffed with carbs, we headed back to CP church, and then played sardines and hide and seek for a bit, and played capture the flag as well. After all that lovely stuff, we did this game that I have no idea what it was called, but we had to pick someone in the group, and tell them how they encouraged us or something like that. I thought it was pretty neat. Then we had bible study, and quite honestly, I can't really remember anything except for Jon reading a letter he wrote to Brian about his year in youth ministry, what he's learned and stuff, then him talking to us about NYC, then him explaining that CP is going to have it's own Vertical/Nine12. Which I already knew since like, January, but it hasn't been official, ever. But...It still doesn't have a date to start either, but I mean, I already knew that when it opens, I'm going to have to be there to help out. No one ever had to ask me to go, I just knew.
After that was over, we played another fun round of sardines. Then I stood at the windows after everyone left, and waited for Jon to lock up and such with Nic. I went to their house, and walked down their "driveway" with Jon to feed their new duckies they have while he was explaining stuff to me. It wasn't till after we fed the ducks, and walked all the way back, sat down on some VERY stiff chairs, then I started getting it. He started talking about CP, and vertical production team and getting up, and "GOing". THEN he told me that I was supposed to lead, and create my own vertical production team for CP...
Yeah, I did like a double take. I think my jaw dropped too. I'm pretty sure my voice went up a few notches as well when I said, WHAT?!

I'm going to stop there, because I don't really want to go into it anymore, but like, 50 billion things were in my mind.
What if they have vertical in Malta the same night as CP does? Will I get to see anyone from there anymore? I can't do this! What happens if I don't know what to do, or if I freeze or something. What if I fail at this? What if I don't find anyone to be on the team? What do I do if [or when] I screw up? What if they don't respect me? I am only 14 [15 in august] y'know, I'm not some 27 [almost] year old guy that knows what he's doing, and has about 89798745345235643 times more leading experience as me. =P

As you can see, I'm quite nervous about this...

Get Supersonic

Last night VPT, and a few others, went to a Family Force 5, TFK, TobyMac, and Building 429 concert. I thought FF5 was the best, then Toby Mac. But all of the bands were pretty awesome overall. A few hours before the concert started, we played on a playground and I smashed my head 2 times, on two different bars, pretty hard. Needless to say, that hurt quite alot. Went to Price Chopper, and looked for food. Then having no place to eat, we ate near the road, on a patch of green grass. Most of us tried to get people to honk, although some were more successful than others. We started being watched - or stalked, which ever one you want to call it- by 3 "gangsters" in a ugly green car, so that was interesting. Afterward we all headed over to Toys R Us, and some of us [James] were planning to be kicked out. I went along with it, because I've never been kicked out of any place before. Yes, I'm a good girl. =P We eventually did get kicked out, which was hilarious.

By the time we were done with that, it was time to go back to where the concert was, and walked, and walked, and walked, to the end of the line. We played duck, duck, goose and did other stupid stuff that I can't really remember right now. The wait wasn't actually too bad, and there was I thinking we were gonna wait in that never ending line for hour or something. We got in, and looked for seats. We got the very back row, but it was in front of a window, so it wasn't too bad. We weren't even back there most of the time, but the bands were so deafening loud, you could hear it out all of the way to where we were parked. That's loud. Plus it doesn't help that we stood next to the speakers for FF5/ some of TobyMac either. I couldn't hear a thing for like, 20 minutes, everything was dulled. That isn't gonna be a good thing for when I'm older. =P After FF5, I bought one of their t-shirts, which is amazing. Then unfortunately I got separated from everyone during TFK, and I was kinda pissed at that. But met up with people again after they were done...I got home at like, 12:45am or something around there, and listened to my iPod for an hour or so, before actually going to sleep. My mom said I didn't have to go to school if I didn't want to. I woke up at around 9, so yeah, no school. =]

Sundays Rock...

Today went really well, at least I wasn't home on the computer, like I usually am, right? Here it is in a nutshell...

I helped run both services at CP, which both went pretty smooth.
Afterward I went to the Wises for lunch with Dave B, and Bates, who came a little later, for their bbq before the fast started. Really good hamburgers and chicken. I was stuffed after my first serving...Although I'm starting to regret not eating the last chicken breast they had. I also learned that Dave likes ranch dressing. alot. haha
After we ate, I pretty much sat on the couch for awhile, relaxing, and dozing, while they all talked about stuff that I had no say in, because I pretty much had no idea what to say.
Then we followed Dave and Bates to a Mini Sports Plex, and I pwned Dave at go-carts, which was pretty fun, and [kinda] learned how to *properly* hit a golfball off of its tee. Which, I think I sucked at. =P
I'm pretty hungry right now. I REALLY want some pasta. Are we allowed to have pasta? Does anyone know? Yeah, Tomorrow's going to be difficult...